Substituting for prayersof faithful

[momoffamily]

At the All Saints day liturgy for the past couple of years in my parish the prayers of the faithful have been substituted with the congregation standing while the names of those baptised in the past year are read aloud. Every 3 or 4 names we are asked to sing “pray for us” after the list of names. Many of these are babies. How can they pray for us right now? While I know the communion of saints includes the Church militant - isn’t the day about the Church triumphant?

 

[TheMc]

At the All Saints day liturgy for the past couple of years in my parish the prayers of the faithful have been substituted with the congregation standing while the names of those baptised in the past year are read aloud. Every 3 or 4 names we are asked to sing “pray for us” after the list of names. Many of these are babies. How can they pray for us right now? While I know the communion of saints includes the Church militant - isn’t the day about the Church triumphant?

Ugh… I hate these liturgical cocktails. I wish people would just quit making things up.

 

[Vico]

Both.

From the Holy Father, 2006, All Saints Day:

But “why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this Solemnity, mean anything to the Saints?”. A famous homily of St Bernard for All Saints’ Day begins with this question. It could equally well be asked today. And the response the Saint offers us is also timely: “The Saints”, he says, “have no need of honour from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs… But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning” (*Disc. 2, Opera Omnia Cisterc. *5, 364ff.).

This, then, is the meaning of today’s Solemnity: looking at the shining example of the Saints to reawaken within us the great longing to be like them; happy to live near God, in his light, in the great family of God’s friends. Being a Saint means living close to God, to live in his family. And this is the vocation of us all, vigorously reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council and solemnly proposed today for our attention.

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20061101_all-saints_en.html

 

[momoffamily]

Okay, I get that. I just wonder why we would be expressing “pray for us” to the newly baptised and how come it is substituted for the prayers of the faithful.

 

[MarkThompson]

Okay, I get that. I just wonder why we would be expressing “pray for us” to the newly baptised and how come it is substituted for the prayers of the faithful.

Yes, you shouldn’t, it’s bizarre. Sometimes people do things, even out of nice motivations, that wind up being strange once you really think about them.